Grizzlies spoil the festivities at Idaho?s home opener

The Utah Grizzlies (1-0-0) earned a 3-2 shootout victory over the Idaho Steelheads (0-0-1) in front of a sellout crowd of 5,137 fans at Qwest Arena. The scoring in the first period was all Steelheads, as Michigan Tech product Jimmy Kerr opened the scoring with his first ECHL goal on the power play at 9:13 with assists going to Riley Weselowski and Kris Sparre, as they both registered their first ECHL points on the play. Another power play goal put the Steelheads up 2-0, as Darrell Hay sent a point shot over the shoulder of Utah goalie Nathan Lawson at 17:35. Assists on the goal went to Marty Flichel and Steve Gainey. Ryan Kinasewich evened the score for Utah in the second period with two power play goals in the frame; the first of which came at 4:47 with assists being credited to Brandon Scero and Tim Verbeek. Late in the period, the Utah captain Kinasewich tied the game at 2-2. Assists on the goal went to James Sanford and Mike Walsh. The third period did not yield a goal for either team, as Rejean Beauchemin stopped all eight Utah shots he faced, and Lawson stopped all seven shots from the Steelheads. The period did however bring a combined nine minor penalties between the two clubs. After a scoreless overtime period, Utah prevailed in the shootout to pick up the win. The only successful Steelheads shootout attempt came off the stick of Quinnipiac product Ben Nelson on Idaho?s first try. Scero, James Sixsmith, and Matt Craig converted on Utah?s first three shootout tries, and that was all the Grizzlies needed. On the evening, Beauchemin stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced for Idaho, while Lawson steered aside 23 of the 25 Idaho shots he faced. Utah was 2-for-8 on the power play, while Idaho was 2-for-11. Action continues for Idaho on Wednesday night when the Steelheads head to Phoenix.